


The Question

by KFawkes



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Mass Effect 3, No Shepard without Vakarian, Turians
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-17
Updated: 2017-07-17
Packaged: 2018-12-03 12:56:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11532684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KFawkes/pseuds/KFawkes
Summary: Tumblr prompts "Will you marry me" and "Please talk to me" So that was fun lol. Hope you enjoy <3





	The Question

Shepard lay on the ground of Therum in a cool patch of shade. Her hair spread beneath her pale freckled face like a wave of fire. With ankles crossed and long delicate fingers braided together on her stomach. Her breath left her lips in hurried exhales ringing with a serene calmness with just a touch of stressed the fuck out. Pulling one hand from the others grip, she slid the glove from it one finger at a time. Once her hand was free she placed it on the ground beside her, spreading her fingers wide before picking up and dropping small pieces of red rubble. 

“Shepard I… didn’t mean to… I don’t know. I thought…” Garrus strode over to her slowly, his head tilted to the side slightly looking at the abandoned mine entrance. 

It was the same dig site they had found Liara in all those years ago. Shepard didn’t speak, she merely just grab small piles of sand from the ground, letting them slip between her fingers repeatedly. He took another step closer, testing the water so to say.

“Please talk to me, Jane.” Garrus’ voice was light and raspy. His subvocal’s flanging in a tone she learned was disappointment. 

“I don’t know what to say.” Shepard finally spoke after another long moment, her voice cracking midway as she clear her throat and pulled the corner of her lip into a suddenly dry mouth.

“How about, ‘Yes, Garrus. I’d love to marry you and spend the rest of my life getting you out of trouble.’?” Garrus’s purr was filled with confidence and ease as he took another step closer, wearing his version of a perfect smile. Watching as she pull from her core to sit up with arms wrapped around her knees.

“Garrus…” She shook her head looking down at her feet, using the tip of her foot to create a small hole in the space below it.

“Don’t you ‘Garrus’ me. Like you know what’s going to happen-” 

Standing quickly she closed the gap between them with urgency. Furrowing her brow, her face was screaming with anger but her eyes were screaming with fear. “You _‘don’t’_ … You have no idea what’s coming.” She pulled her hands to her hips as she sent a small pink tongue out before continuing. “I actually do know what’s out there, Garrus… I’ve known for a long time. And I think we both know I’m not…”

“Jane.” Garrus pulled her from her thoughts with a hand to her chin as he slid her face forward to his. “Come back to me.” 

After a deep sigh she began, her voice was almost defeated. “How can you even think about getting married right now, Garrus? With everything going on… It’s just… You have to know know that I’m not…” Shaking her head at her thoughts, it was hard for her to even say them out loud.

“That you’re not what, Shepard? Huh?” He asked pointedly, his undertones already revealing he knew her answer.

“That I’m not coming back from this. This is gonna be it for me, Garrus. This is my last stop. You can’t cheat death twice, you just can’t…” Narrowing her eyes she forced composure as she slid her hands to either side of his neck. “I don’t want to leave you with that. With nothing…”

If she was being honestly there was nothing more that she wanted than to spend the rest of her life as his bondmate. She was in love with him. Irrevocably, unconditionally, unfathomably in love with him. With the way his nose crinkled when he laughed, to the soft flanging his voice made when he said her name. Down to the way he held her late at night, or woke her from the nightmares of death and failure. Shepard loved every inch of that damn turian, through and through. But she wasn’t about to promise him a life she couldn’t give him. Not when she knew what was coming… She couldn’t give him everything and leave him all alone in the world with nothing.

Shepard didn’t like saying it… But she knew it was the truth. She knew that all their months of preparation and gathering forces came down to their next big fight… The last fight. That all of their endless hours building the Crucible, and preparing for the battle came down to this. It all came down to her… She was going to have to fight the Reapers and she could feel it in every molecule of her body that she wasn’t going to make it through this one.

“You won’t marry me because you think you’re going to die? Hell, Shepard. You might… I might. Everyone we know might die during this fight. The Reapers could win and we could all be decimated…”

“I know, that’s exactly my point.” Shaking her head lightly she held her mouth slightly open in mild confusion.

“And it’s also mine. Except I’m not scared of it. I’m not running away from the things I want because I’m worried I might to lose them. I don’t want to marry you because the galaxy is crumbling, Jane. I want to marry you because if I die in a few days, I want to know I died as your mate. I want to die knowing I had the love of my life by my side until the very end.” Garrus’ rasp ended sincerely as he gaze down into those large emerald eyes. 

He watched as they filled with a liquid he learned to be tears, sliding a hand to her cheek he removed it before it escaped over her ivory chin. “Why are you crying?” 

“Because… I’ve never… No ones ever said anything like that to me before. And well… truthfully you’re right. I’m scared.” Sliding her hand below her eyes she removed more evidence of her sensitivity. After a deep sigh she continued again. “I’m scared because I don’t want to die again. I don’t want to go back to the dark emptiness of… nothing. I don’t want to leave you here alone again…” 

Moving her eyes down she began thinking back to when the SR1 had been spaced. Back to when she had died… “Or if something happened to you and I had to just… go on without you… God, Garrus. I don’t know how you did it.” Shaking her head lightly side to side she looked back into his crystal eyes. 

“You’ll never be alone, Shepard. Never. We’re going to get out of this alive. You better believe that.” Garrus ran his fingers down the back of her hair as he finished.

Jane leaned into his chest as she pull him into a tight hug. Thinking about all of their time together these last three plus years… All of their long nights, and every near death mission. All of those soft kisses and warm hugs. Every little piece of them came flooding into her mind wrapping her in a tornado of emotions. Squeezing him tighter with each passing memory, she didn’t want to let him go. 

After several minutes of this, he broke the silence with a soft purr from above her. “Do you know why I wanted to ask you here?”

“Cause you like making me suffer?” Her voice was soft and light as she joked about the heat of the planet. She was trying for playful, only slightly able to cover their previous conversations weight.

“That is a bonus… But, no.” Sliding his three taloned hand to the back of her neck again, he rest it at the base of her skull as he rub his thumb across the side of her head affectionately. “That day we found Liara… when we were running up the tunnel, escaping the cave in… Which, if I remember correctly you caused-” Shepard scoffed as she rolled her eyes at him before allowing him to continue. “We got caught or something and we tumbled down that ramp in a pile. I landed right on top of you.” Garrus ended with an honest laugh as he recalled the memory with fondness pouring though his subvocal’s.

“How could I forget, you weigh a fucking ton.” Poking him with a finger lightly in the side, she returned his laugh with an affectionate smile. When she noticed the unimpressed look he held in his eyes, she nodded sweetly for him to continue, zipping her lips with pinched fingers and a closed mouth smile.

After a nostalgic sigh he narrowed his eyes at her once more, lowering his head closer. “That was the day I realized I was in love with you, Jane. That was the day I realized I’d follow you anywhere you asked me to.” His voice was strong, and he didn’t waver once, which was surprising since this was the first time he’d actually told her he loved her. 

“And I did… I followed you to Ilos. And with everything stacked against us we made it out of there. Then I followed you straight into hell again through the relay. And guess what, Shepard? We made it out.” 

After a momentary pause he swallowed and continued in his usual soft bewitching purr. “We made it past the geth and Saren. Past Sovereign and even death itself when it came for you… We’re going to make it through this too, Jane. We’re going to kick Harbingers ass straight back into dark space and we’re going to make it out alive. We’re going to spend the rest of our lives somewhere warm and tropical and I’m going to remind you everyday why I chose you… Marry me, Jane. Spend the rest of your life with me. Whether it’s tomorrow or in 70 years.”

Shepard closed her eyes tightly biting back the stinging her fresh tears brought. Slowly she opened them, sliding them to his as she begin nodding profusely. As her head move up and down faster and faster with each nod, her light pink lips curled into a wide smile. Pressing her mouth to his before speaking she kissed him deeply.

“Yes… Yes of course, Garrus. I… I’m sorry. I don’t know-” She kissed him over and over again, all around his face on every plate she could reach from her height. “-what I was thinking. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Of course I will.” Kissing him one final time before he grabbed a small piece of fur from his suit. 

As he unwrapped it slowly he reveal a small golden ban, atop was a flat circular stone. It was a dark blue, and almost looked like some kind of turquoise. “I needed help with this part… But Joker mentioned you used to have one like it. And something about these being the human tradition? Is it alr-” His worried awkward rambling was cut short by her lips as she kissed him again.

“It’s perfect.” Lifting her ungloved hand to his he placed small pecks on every finger before he slid the ban to its final resting place. Feeling that familiar sting behind her eyes she slid her arms around his cowl squeezing him tightly. 

Shepard may have been scared and stressed beyond imagination. Scared that the Reapers would win, scared that she might lose… But now nothing scared her more than the thought of dying before she had the chance to see this through. Nothing scared her more than dying without Garrus knowing that it was him. That it had always been him.

They had something special, something that the Reapers didn’t: Hope. Friendship. Love… Something to live for.


End file.
